Story+1988-02-28+Worcester,+MA

“I’m all dressed up, are you ready to go? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Tunnel of Love”**

“Hey man, how you been doing?...I haven’t seen you in a little while...what’ve you been up to?...you got...got married, got the kid now, huh?...(?) that big? no...he is, he’s about that big and he’s only about...how old is he?...he’s three, he’s half as big as Clarence is now...he’s gonna be the Little Big Man (crowd cheers) he’s got a little saxophone (chuckles) oh man...we used to sit, we used to sit on this bench...at lunchtime...you know...back in like 1974, 75 (crowd cheers) we used to bring our records with us...sit ‘em on our lap and hope that the girls would notice (chuckles)...it was about 12.30, they’d always be coming by, here they come...here comes somebody…in the blue, the one in the blue blouse, here she comes, man...(laughs) woo!...I remember I was with you, I was with you when you met your wife, you know...she came in that room...and you came back that night and we got on the bus and Clarence come back and said “Man, I met the girl I’m gonna marry”...you know...but Clarence would always say that after every girl that he would meet (chuckles) (crowd cheers) he would mean it too, though...wow...but that time you really meant it (chuckles) you know...remember how it feels like that first time when you see, when you see somebody come walking in the room...you know... hey Ritchie, do it, man (the horn section starts to harmonize) it feels like that (chuckles)...looking good...man, I gotta get home at dinnertime, can’t be late now...I gotta be in bed by like eleven o’clock now, you wouldn’t believe it...”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “All That Heaven Will Allow**”

“So how you doing out there tonight? (crowd cheers) that’s nice... that’s good...it’s good to see you again (crowd cheers) when I was ...when I was a little kid, me and my sister who was...a year older than me but she always did everything first...uh...we used to sleep in this little corner bedroom on the side street...we both slept in the same bed and in the summertime we...kept the window open and the head of the bed was right at the window...and across the street ...lived this woman named Audrey with her three kids...and her husband...named Bill...and, uh...their front room was kind of right adjacent to our window...and Bill worked in a meat-packing plant down...down in South Jersey (crowd cheers) it’s what a lot of the other...men in the neighbourhood did...and Audrey would, uh... stay, stay with the kids in the day...and my mama used to always say...about how...how she was so crazy about her kids...and she wasn’t, she wasn’t on their case for everything or...they had to be real neat or anything but it was just something about...the way that she was with them...she’d sit out on the...porch in the summertime, she had a little girl, had real long blonde hair, looked like it’d hardly ever been cut...and she’d sit there and...and comb that little girl’s hair...and there was something about...the way that she brought the brush down...for the back of her hair and then followed it with her hand...real soft down the back of her little girl’s neck...and, uh...I guess the men used to get home around...six o’clock...seven o’clock if they stopped for...beer or something...and my...unless they were working on the nightshift like my pop did a lot...and sometimes Bill, sometimes he’d come home and sometimes he...wouldn’t...and sometimes he’d come home late and he’d had too much to drink...and me and my sister would be in bed and we could hear ‘em arguing and arguing...coming across the street...and when you’re a little kid...I think nothing scares you as much as...as, as hearing grown-ups argue especially if it’s in your own house ‘cause your house is your world (crowd cheers) and... and it can make it feel so unsafe...and I can remember one night Bill coming home late...and they started to really go at it...and you could hear...things breaking or...you could hear Audrey begin to call, she started calling for help from somebody...I got scared and I ...got up out of bed and I ran into my parents’ room...and my father was gone...and I got my mama and I...brought her into our room and she sat by the window...and we could hear Audrey calling for somebody to get the police...but nobody did...nobody did...and the next day...when I was in the yard...she was hanging up the laundry and I...ducked under a sheet, looked up at her and I could see that her face had been bruised and her eye was swollen...and she looked down at me for a minute...and she walked real fast into the house...but then she came back...and stood at the screen door...and looked straight at me...like there was something...that she wanted me to see...and people talked and time passed on... and, uh...my folks moved away, I moved away...but as I got older ...for some reason, I kept going back to that street...and the older I got the more I went back...I’d get in my car at night...and I’d drive back to that little town...like there was something...that I was missing...you know, there was something that I’d lost and I thought was there, I thought it was still back there...and I’d get out, park my car on the corner and I’d walk...walk up the street, tracing the cracks in the sidewalk like I did when I was a kid...and I’d look at all the houses with the little lights on...and houses at night ,when you’re driving by ‘em in your car, with those lights on, to me they always look so safe...and I always imagine people in ‘em being happy, you know...and one night late in the summer...I parked my car in the same place on the corner...I got out and I started walking...and I seen a woman standing out in front of Audrey’s house...and I was sure it was her...I started walking faster towards her...and it was late and I guess I must’ve scared her ‘cause she ran up on the porch...and I looked at her and I could see that it was...it was somebody else...I kept walking up the street, went across the highway...and saw a friend of mine...and that night when I came back...it was late...and the lights in the houses were dim...and I felt different...and I realised that somewhere along the way...that I had grown up...that I had changed...that I had become a man (crowd cheers) and that...and that...those houses didn’t look so safe to me anymore...I understood that they were filled with strangers...just like me...people struggling to hold on to the things that they loved as best as they could (crowd cheers) and...I understood that all the people that were kind or hurtful to me when I was a little boy were gone...and that street wasn’t mine anymore...and I walked to my car...and I got in...and I drove home...to my house and to my family (crowd cheers)...”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Spare Parts”**

“Are you with me tonight? (crowd cheers) are you alive out there tonight? (crowd cheers) let me see your hands...I’ve got a question ...are there any brave men in the audience tonight?...are there any courageous men out there?...any He-Men?...are there macho men out there tonight?...because I’ve known men that would climb mountains...then swim rivers...then wrestle with a grizzly bear...but there was just one thing that they was afraid of...there was one thing that scared them to death...I’m gonna tell you what that thing was....now, what I’m talking about tonight is...that thing that scared ‘em is L-U-V...love, say you need somebody...love scared ‘em...terrified ‘em...made ‘em run away like little babies...and girls...women, I’m talking to you too...I’m talking to you too now...because I’ve known women that would jump out of aeroplanes at 30 thousand feet...that would canoe up the Amazon wrestling off alligators and crocodiles...I know women that would, that would...that would even date some of the horn section of this band...brave women...but there was one thing they were afraid of...and that one thing was love...love scared ‘em... love terrified ‘em, love got ‘em shaking down to their souls...now I’m down here tonight because I’ve got a confession to make...I got something I gotta get off my shoulders...because I have sinned!...and I wanna tell you I don’t need no old Pat Robertson to forgive me (crowd cheers) he can kiss my ass...I have sinned!...now I don’t care who you bring down here, man...you can bring down Hulk Hogan, I’ll take him on...you can bring down the Road Warriors...you can bring down George “The Animal” Steele, you can bring down Andre the Giant...they don’t scare me...they don’t scare me...but what I’ve got to say is...what I’ve got to confess tonight is...what I’ve got to...what I’ve got to rip from my soul to tell (?)...I’m a coward... when it comes to love (crowd cheers) help me testify, Max…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “I’m a Coward”**

“I was, uh…reading the newspapers the other day…I came across this story and I…I couldn’t believe it…it went like this…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”**

“Have you ever felt lonely?...have you ever felt so lonely?...so lonely that you wanted to reach out to somebody…somebody that’d make you feel like, uh…like you’re worth something…have you ever been so lonely…that all you wanted to say was…was…was…was “Hey, come on, baby”…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, towards the end of “Dancing in the Dark”**

“On the piano, Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) on the drums the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) on guitar and vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa (crowd cheers) on the bass, Mr. Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici (crowd cheers) on the baritone, Eddie “the Kingfish” Manion (crowd cheers) on the saxophone (?) Mr. Mario Cruz (crowd cheers) and on the trumpet, Mr. Mark Pender (crowd cheers) on the other trumpet, Mr. Mark Spangler (crowd cheers) and on the trombone, the sexiest man from the state of New Jersey (crowd cheers) with so much sexual vitality… he warps all known reality…Ritchie “La Bamba” Rosenberg (?)(crowd cheers) and last but not least (crowd cheers) do I have to say his name? (crowd cheers) do I have to say his name? (crowd cheers) on the saxophone, king of the world, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers)…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, middle of “Light of Day”**

“Oh, thanks…this is, uh...lot of people come up to me all the time if they see me on the street or something, they always wanna say… wanna say “Bruce, what’s you favorite song?”...you know, and, uh...I guess, I guess this next song is kind of my favorite song (crowd cheers) and, uh...I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s my best song but...but it’s a song that...that as I get older, I, I seem to find out that I can always still sing it…you know and…I wrote it when I was 24...a young dude (laughs)(crowd cheers) but when I think back, it always surprises me...’bout how I knew...so much I guess about...what my life was about at that time...and when I sing it now, I still, I feel kind of, I feel young and I feel old at the same time...and the song kind of opens up and...lets in all the years... and it breathes it in sort of gracefully...and, uh...I guess you know when we thought of coming out, coming on tour this time...we weren’t sure if we were gonna, what we were gonna do exactly... and I didn’t know...I didn’t know exactly...I said what if I go out, you know, what am I gonna be saying, I don’t wanna say the same thing I did last time, you have to come out with something... something...something different to tell people, something that you feel will be worth going out and talking and singing about (crowd cheers) so...I wrote this song when I was 24 and it was about a guy and a girl that wanted to run and keep on running (crowd cheers)...and as I got older...as I got older, I realised...how much that song...was me and how much I didn’t want it to end up being me...and I wanted to...make a home for myself somewhere...try and grow up a little bit...and I guess when we came out this time...the home is a hard thing to find and a hard thing to hold on to...so...maybe this is your song too (crowd cheers) good luck in, in your search, ok (crowd cheers)...//In the day we sweat…//I’ve sung it so damn much I forgot what the first words were (chuckles)(crowd cheers)(chuckles) //In the day we sweat it out in the streets…//”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Born to Run”**

“It’s dark out there…this is for all them old…folks out there in the audience tonight…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Glory Days”**

“I just wanna say thanks for coming down (crowd cheers) this is for you and the one you love…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Can’t Help Falling in Love”**

“We’re gonna bring this one back, it answers the important questions of the night: Does the hero get the girl? Does her mama come in and stop ‘em?...Does her daddy come down and brain him? Does he end up broke, busted and disgusted? Does he end up rolling in the loot? What’s he doing? What happens?...these and other mysteries will now be revealed…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Rosalita”**

“Now those guys last night got an extra song (crowd cheers) I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t do an extra song for you guys (crowd cheers) now do you wanna hear “Tenth Avenue” or you wanna hear “Devil with the Blue Dress?” (crowd cheers) “Tenth Avenue?” (crowd cheers) “Devil with the Blue Dress?” (crowd cheers) “Tenth Avenue?” (crowd cheers) “Devil with the Blue Dress?” (crowd cheers) that’s awful close…take it to the “Tenth,” boys…one, two, three, four…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”**

“Is it alright now? (crowd cheers) is it alright? (crowd cheers) is it alright? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 28.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to “Detroit Medley”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//